Innovation QNS Is Approved, Cementing Transformative Astoria Rezoning

ASTORIA, QUEENS — The neighborhood-reshaping Innovation QNS rezoning was approved by the City Council on Tuesday, the final step in a yearslong battle that will allow the five-block Astoria development to be built.

The 46-1 vote will allow developers to construct a dozen new buildings in the low-rise, industrial area between 37th Street and Northern Boulevard, north of 36th Avenue. The final plans include 3,190 apartments, of which about 45 percent — 1,436 units — will be considered affordable.

A last-minute addition of 300 affordable homes was secured during negotiations by local Council Member Julie Won, who had fiercely opposed Innovation QNS since it began its public review in April. Won, like some others in the neighborhood, argued that a dearth of affordable housing would displace Astoria's working-class residents by encouraging landlords to raise rents in the surrounding blocks — but she praised the project's final form.

"We will no longer, in my district, allow luxury development to outpace the development of affordable units," Won said Tuesday, before the vote.

Here are the answers to the most important questions about Innovation QNS.

What exactly will be in Innovation QNS?

Innovation QNS will consist of 12 buildings spread across five blocks between 35th and 36th avenues, plus roughly two acres of public open space.

It will also include a supermarket, retail space, a community recreation center, a medical office, a daycare center, and a new movie theater replacing the existing Regal UA Kaufman Astoria theater on 38th Street, which will be bulldozed.

Commercial office space, which formerly took up a large chunk of the project, has been completely eliminated to make space for more housing, as part of the recent Council negotiations.

Now, the project's 1,436 affordable apartments include 658 units for households that are formerly homeless or earning 30 percent of the area median income — about $36,000 for a family of three. That appears to make it the largest deeply affordable development built in New York since at least 2014, according to city data.

It will include five buildings standing at least 20 stories tall, with the tallest, at 27 floors, on the corner of 36th Avenue and 41st Street.

Besides the new buildings, Won said developers have also agreed to pay for a $2 million anti-displacement fund to provide legal services for tenants in the surrounding area, as well as relocation help for nearby residents and businesses.

"I always knew it was going to be a compromise," Won said Tuesday. "It is not easy when your community is disappointed and sad, but we know that we're doing the best that we can in the circumstances that we're in, during an affordable housing crisis."

When will construction start?

Construction will last about 10 years, according to the developers — Silverstein Properties, BedRock Real Estate Partners, and Kaufman Astoria Studios — but they haven't specified when work will begin.

All five blocks will not be under construction at once: instead, work will progress block-by-block, said Jameson Divall, a vice president at Silverstein, during a City Council hearing last month.

Developers said last month that the first area to start construction will be the two blocks between Steinway and 42nd streets, now home to parking lots, warehouses, auto repair shops, and the Steinway Cafe-Billiards pool hall.

Still, there could be hangups — at least one current tenant, the pool hall, is still battling its landlord in court over a rent dispute. And The Real Deal reported Monday that the entire project could be jeopardized by the expiration of New York's 421a tax break, which developers were counting on to fund the affordable housing. (Mayor Eric Adams and others plan to pressure state lawmakers to bring back the tax cuts during their next session.)

What's on those blocks now?

The development site consists mostly of low-rise industrial buildings, home to 20 businesses that will be displaced.

There are also a handful of residential buildings, including six apartments that are currently occupied. Developers have said they will offer those tenants the chance to move into Innovation QNS' new buildings, some of which will be completed before the existing apartments need to be demolished.

Have an Innovation QNS question or news tip? Contact reporter Nick Garber at nick.garber@patch.com.

The existing Regal UA Kaufman Astoria theater will be demolished, with a new theater built on a different block along 41st Street.

Playground Thirty Five XXXV, on the corner of Steinway Street and 35th Avenue, will be preserved and expanded with a new green space surrounding it.

How have the Innovation QNS plans changed?

Developers have made numerous changes to Innovation QNS since plans were first unveiled in 2020, largely in response to community concerns.

The total number of apartments has risen from around 2,800 to 3,190, including a jump in affordable units from 711 to 1,436. Won also said this week that developers had increased the number of "family-sized" affordable apartments, with 554 two- or three-bedroom units now compared to 284 originally.

A 600-seat public school building slated for the westernmost block was scrapped earlier this year, when the city told developers it was no longer needed — a revelation that angered members of Astoria's community board, who said developers had promised it. (The school site will now be occupied by a 30,000-square-foot sports and recreation center.)

Developers have also shifted building heights multiple times, mostly to move the tallest buildings toward Northern Boulevard and away from Astoria's residential core.

Along with the elimination of offices, developers also cut parking spaces from 1,390 down to 800 and reduced community facility space, in order to accommodate more housing.

Who has supported Innovation QNS, and who opposed it?

Innovation QNS got a rough reception from the get-go: when it was unveiled in 2020, then-Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer immediately blasted it as out-of-scale with the neighborhood, saying it would "change Astoria forever."

Those claims were echoed by members of Community Board 1, who voted to recommend rejecting the rezoning, and others in the neighborhood who feared it would contribute to gentrification and displacement.

"The way they’re building ... this is going to hurt Astoria," resident Mohammad Uddin said at a May town hall meeting at the Museum of the Moving Image. "Our small businesses, they’re not going to be able to stay."

The advocacy group Astoria Not For Sale, a coalition of four existing neighborhood groups, formed in opposition to Innovation QNS and has been a visible presence protesting the development. Queens Borough President Donovan Richards also recommended rejecting the development — only to flip and become a vocal supporter after developers added more affordable housing.

Innovation QNS' chief proponents have, of course, been the developers who stand to profit from it. But others, too, have argued that the development would be an economic boon and help tackle New York's severe shortage of affordable and market-rate housing.

"If we want to preserve the character of this neighborhood, we’re going to want to build more housing so that anyone who wants to come here, can come here," Astoria resident Brian Denton said during the May town hall. "It’s going to be a good start to create a rental market where landlords compete for tenants, and not the other way around."

Other key supporters have included Mayor Eric Adams and influential labor unions like SEIU 32BJ and Local 79, who have backed Innovation QNS for its potential to create hundreds of construction jobs.

How will it affect the surrounding neighborhood?

A required study of the rezoning's impact on its surrounding environment, submitted this spring and updated after the recent changes to the project, found that Innovation QNS had the potential for "significant adverse impacts" on the surrounding area — including on subway congestion, pedestrian and vehicle traffic, public libraries, and early childhood education.

An estimated 213 children under the age of five could move into the Innovation QNS buildings, exceeding the capacity of the neighborhood's existing daycares, the study found. To mitigate that impact, 134 new childcare slots would need to be added, including within Innovation QNS itself, according to the study.

Meanwhile, the influx of residents would also strain service along the N/W subway lines, which might run over capacity during morning peak hours, the study found. Nearly two dozen intersections could experience extra vehicle traffic, while pedestrians might be hampered by congestion on three sidewalks and two crosswalks.

Only one green space will be affected by new shadows cast by Innovation QNS: Playground Thirty Five XXXV, which will sit next to a 24-story tower and thus be bathed in new shadows throughout the day during all seasons, according to the study.

Several studied areas would not suffer any major negative impacts from the project, including neighborhood character, air quality, energy use, residential displacement or business displacement, the study found. (About 20 businesses and 170 jobs will be displaced, but none that comprise a majority of employers in any given sector, according to the study.)

What do the developers have to say?

In a statement after Tuesday's approval, the development team hailed the vote as a "major milestone" in the city's efforts to combat its housing crisis.

"Today’s approval of Innovation QNS is a truly historic moment for New York City’s efforts to ensure its long-term economic sustainability and provide equitable access to real opportunity," said Marty Burger, CEO of Silverstein Properties.

Tracy Capune, vice president of Kaufman Astoria Studios, called it a "tremendous victory for our Astoria neighbors."

Others who had quick praise for the rezoning's approval included Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, 32BJ SEIU president Kyle Bragg, Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement House executive director Christopher Hanway; and Kevin Foley-Littell, president of the Steinway Astoria Partnership.

Related Innovation QNS coverage:

• Won Backs Innovation QNS As Astoria Rezoning Nears Finish Line
• Won Still Against Innovation QNS As BP Blasts 'Weirdo' Opponents
• Innovation QNS Increases Affordable Apartments In Bid For Approval
• Huge Innovation QNS Rezoning Rejected By Board, But Battle Continues
• Astoria's Innovation QNS Developers Share Changes Amid Skepticism
  
• Developers Unveil $2B Plan For Astoria 'Creative District'

Have an Innovation QNS question or news tip? Contact reporter Nick Garber at nick.garber@patch.com